Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Jet Lag 2002

      At Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, a beautician is on her way to a new job in Mexico.  She accidentally meets a cook who is on his way back from America to Mexico.  Labor strikes, bad weather and pure bad luck cause the two of them to share a room overnight at the airport Hilton hotel.  Could it be possible that their initial mutual indifference and downright hostility turn into a one night stand or perhaps something more?


     Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno go a long way toward redeeming the artificiality of this concept with their nuanced and unsentimental performances.  Rose is maddeningly meticulous about her appearance and the camera studies her every move as she applies her cosmetic mask and fixes her hair.  But, if Rose's attention to surfaces implies an underlying superficiality, she also takes a bubbly and instinctive pleasure in life.  It's a measure of Juliette Binoche’s innate radiance that when her character finally appears without makeup, she is even more beautiful.  Despite the probable impossibility of this couple really getting together, I did like this movie.  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)


91 min, Comedy directed and written by Daniele Thompson, also written by Christopher Thompson with Juliette Binoche, Jean Reno, Sergi Lopez, Scali Delpeyrat, Karine Belly, Raoul Billerey, Nadege Beausson-Diagne, Alice Taglioni, Jerome Keen Sebastien Lalanne, Michel Lepriol, Mbembo, Lucy Harrison.


Note:  Imdb 6.1* out of 10* with 5,755 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 57% with 69 critic reviews 54% with 5,000+ audience scores, Roger Ebert 4.3* out of 5* with 222 ratings, Metacritic 53 out of 100 with 28 critic reviews 6.4 out of 10 with 11 user scores, 


Special Note:  Rose was named after Rosa Luxembourg, a Polish socialist activist who was murdered in 1919.  Juliette Binoche replaced Isabelle Adjani in the leading role.  For research, director/co-writer Daniele Thompson suggested to Juliette Binoche that she study Shirley MacLaine’s performance in The Apartment (1960).  


Mistake:  American Airlines does not fly to Munich from Paris?

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